Royal Navy
Organization
Found in 27 Collections and/or Records:
File
Literary: correspondence with consultants and others on WSC's war memoirs ("The Second World War", mainly volumes 1 to 4), A-L., Sep 1946 - Mar 1949
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/22
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: [George Gordon] Allen (6); William Deakin (5); Prime Minister Clement Attlee on House of Commons' questions on German invasion plans in 1940; Eva, Lady Keyes, on 1st Lord Keyes and King Leopold of Belgium (2); Arthur Birse [one of WSC's wartime interpreters] on WSC's talks with Marshal Stalin in 1942; Alfred Bossom; Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the Cabinet until 1946] (4); Sir Philip Morris [later 1st Lord Morris of Kenwood]; Sir George Bull; Ronald Fraser,...
Dates:
Sep 1946 - Mar 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and appendices: 'Final' proofs., 16 Aug 1948 - 21 Feb 1949
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/183A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes typescript and galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 13 "At Bay" (provisionally entitled "Alone"); Appendix A "Minutes and Telegrams, May -...
Dates:
16 Aug 1948 - 21 Feb 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and Appendices: Master copy proofs., 06 Dec 1948 - 21 Dec 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/181A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State for War]; Chapter 26...
Dates:
06 Dec 1948 - 21 Dec 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and appendices: Proofs for William Deakin., 21 Aug 1948 - 30 Nov 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/192A-C
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State for War]; Chapter 26...
Dates:
21 Aug 1948 - 30 Nov 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and appendices: 'Starred final' proofs., 22 Oct 1948 - 16 Feb 1949
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/185A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 7 "Back to France"; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State...
Dates:
22 Oct 1948 - 16 Feb 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2: Proofs for CSC., 01 Mar 1948 - 29 Nov 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/190A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State for War]; Chapter 26 "Relations with Vichy [France] and Spain"...
Dates:
01 Mar 1948 - 29 Nov 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Comments by Sir Norman Brook., 28 Jan 1948 - 01 Nov 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/193
Scope and Contents
Includes notes by Sir Norman Brook [later 1st Lord Normanbrook, Secretary to the Cabinet] on Volume 2, on subjects including: Chapter 1 "The National Coalition"; Chapter 2 "The Battle of France. The First Week. [General Maurice] Gamelin"; Chapter 3 "The Battle of France. The Second Week. [General Maxime] Weygand"; Chapter 5 "The Deliverance of Dunkirk"; Chapter 8 "Home Defence. June"; Chapter 10 "The Bordeaux Armistice"; Chapter 13 "At Bay" (provisionally entitled "Alone"); Chapter 16 "The...
Dates:
28 Jan 1948 - 01 Nov 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: papers 401 - 429., 24 Oct 1924 - 21 Oct 1925
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 22/43
Scope and Contents
Includes papers from various individuals on various subjects, including: the Board of Trade Advisory Council's monthly review of the trade outlook; 1st Lord Birkenhead [earlier F E Smith], Secretary of State for India, on the position at Canton [later Guangzhou, China]; Austen Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary, on Turkey's position over the Iraq frontier, and the German attitude to security negotiations; Joseph Caillaux, the French Minister of Finance, on the French war debt to Britain; William...
Dates:
24 Oct 1924 - 21 Oct 1925
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: weekly resumes., 30 May 1940 - 01 Aug 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 23/5
Scope and Contents
Printed reviews of the naval, military and air situation, including: the evacuation of Dunkirk [France]; minelaying and minesweeping; Scandinavia; Italy; the Balkans; air defence; air attacks on Germany and Britain; losses of shipping; the Western Front; the Mediterranean; the North Sea; enemy naval intelligence; the French fleet; Africa; the German and Italian Air Forces.
Dates:
30 May 1940 - 01 Aug 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence., 06 Nov 1936 - 20 Jan 1942
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/371A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence issues include: Sir Thomas Inskip [Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, later 1st Lord Caldecote]; Harry Sellar, Private Secretary to Inskip (2); Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, on subjects including the arming of the Guards Battalions; Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, on showing WSC [air construction graphs]; 1st Lord Swinton [former Secretary of State for Air, earlier Philip Cunliffe-Lister and Philip Lloyd-Greame] on the formation...
Dates:
06 Nov 1936 - 20 Jan 1942
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence and papers., 09 Jan 1937 - 23 Feb 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/302
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficiency of the RAF; Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt [former Vice-President of the Tank Board] (2); Sir William Beveridge [Director of London School of Economics and Political Science]; Oswald Frewen on working with German and Italian sailors, German fanaticism, Italian aid to Franco and how the policies of Neville Chamberlain [Prime Minister] encourage Germany and Italy; Leo Amery; Basil Liddell Hart; Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson...
Dates:
09 Jan 1937 - 23 Feb 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence etc., 12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/266A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Basil Liddell Hart [Military Correspondent to the Times] on the troop system used in India; "Harold R" [1st Lord Rothermere, earlier Sir Harold Harmsworth] on subjects including 1st Lord Weir's position in defence [as Adviser to the Air Ministry], the likely stop to any battleship programme, pilot training, the likelihood of a quick German victory against Britain and France, German contempt for the British Government, and the Government's refusal to discuss the...
Dates:
12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open, (folio 93 opened as a 'sanitised' photocopy, original closed on advice of Cabinet Office).
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence etc., 09 Feb 1920 - 28 Dec 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/267
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Frederick Beaumont-Nesbitt [Military Attache, Paris, France] on WSC's visit to see French military manoeuvres at Aix-en-Provence and the Maginot Line (2); "George L" [1st Lord Lloyd of Dolobran]; Alan Herbert, introducing Major-General Sir Percy Hobart [Inspector, Royal Tank Corps, and Commander, Tank Brigade] (2); Desmond Morton on subjects including meeting the representative of the Spanish Nationalists, the Marques del Moral, Communist atrocities in Spain, the...
Dates:
09 Feb 1920 - 28 Dec 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Memoranda etc., 14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/268
Scope and Contents
Includes: memorandum by Desmond Morton on subjects including German propaganda on French military aviation and the Soviet army, and notes [added to file in January 1996] on a speech by the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence [Sir Thomas Inskip, later 1st Lord Caldecote], rebutting Inskip's claims for military production; memorandum by Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficient state of the RAF, and its need for expansion; press cuttings from the Figaro, with an article on the Anglo-French crisis...
Dates:
14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: correspondence and papers, mainly from Field Marshal [1st Lord] Montgomery of Alamein [Chief of Imperial General Staff]., Feb 1948 - May 1950
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/31
Scope and Contents
Includes copies of: various notes and memoranda by Montgomery for the War Office or Chiefs of Staff Committee on the British Army, Western European defence, and his 1948 visits to France and Austria; addresses by him to the "Ecole Superieur de Guerre" and senior officers of the Brussels Treaty Powers, Fontainebleau [France].Other correspondents include: Leslie Hore-Belisha sending on notes of his conversation with the Spanish High Commissioner [to Morocco] General Valera and a translation of...
Dates:
Feb 1948 - May 1950
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons and Non-House of Commons: Speech notes and source material., 27 Feb 1950 - 28 Mar 1950
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 5/33A-C
Scope and Contents
Speech notes and typescript for WSC's speech (7 March, House of Commons) for the debate on the address, on subjects including: the stalemate in the new Parliament and the need for electoral reform; uncertainty until the next election; increasing food production; unemployment; cutting taxation; restoring the value of sterling; repealing the nationalization of the iron and steel industry; enlarging the building trade to solve the housing problem; the risk of Britain being split into Labour and...
Dates:
27 Feb 1950 - 28 Mar 1950
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and other material., 21 Feb 1939 - 27 Apr 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/134A-B
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (21 February) on the defence loan, aircraft production, delays in rearmament, creating a Ministry of Supply, co-operation with France, and mobilisation in the event of a war. Also includes relevant extract from Hansard. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 6064-71.Notes for WSC's speech (14 March) on the army estimates, German war preparedness, arming the territorial army, and numbers assigned for possible overseas service. Also includes relevant extract from Hansard....
Dates:
21 Feb 1939 - 27 Apr 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and other material., 23 May 1940 - 04 Jul 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/140A-B
Scope and Contents
Statement by WSC (23 May) on fighting in France. Also includes relevant extract from Hansard. Published: Complete Speeches VI p 6223.Hansard copy of statement by WSC (28 May) on the fall of Belgium. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 6223-4.Notes for WSC's speech (4 June) entitled "Wars are not won by evacuations" on the fall of Belgium, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk [France] and the successes of the RAF. Speech includes the phrase "We shall fight on the...
Dates:
23 May 1940 - 04 Jul 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and other material., 08 Oct 1940 - 19 Dec 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/142A-B
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (8 October) on the Battle of Britain, the Home Guard and the Home Front, Hitler's threat to invade Britain, events at Dakar [Senegal], the desertion of Vichy France, the Burma road [between Burma, later Myanmar, and China] and events in Spain. Published: Complete Speeches VI, pp 6284-94.Notes for WSC's statement (17 October) on Robert Boothby [Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Food] and Czechoslovak claims.Notes for WSC's speech (5 November) on the war situation,...
Dates:
08 Oct 1940 - 19 Dec 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and source material., 22 Feb 1938 - 24 Mar 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/128
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (22 February) on [Anthony] Eden's [later 1st Lord Avon] resignation as Foreign Secretary, Eden's achievements, relations with Italy, and past foreign policy mistakes, which includes the phrase "This has been a good week for Dictators". Source material includes text from the Daily Telegraph on the Italian view of Eden, and a cutting on German reaction to international press criticism. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5911-7.Rough notes for WSC's speech (28 February)...
Dates:
22 Feb 1938 - 24 Mar 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Unknown
"Their Finest Hour", 18 Jun 1940
Unknown
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/140A/32-55
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (18 June) entitled "Their Finest Hour" on subjects including: fighting in France; the importance of unity and respect for government Ministers; preparations, defence and forces for fighting invasion by Germany, the strength of the Royal Navy; the campaign in Norway; forecasting the Battle of Britain and the determination of the RAF; support from the Dominions. He ends "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and...
Dates:
18 Jun 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Jul 1943 - 31 Jul 1943
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/104/1
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, July 1943.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; the Chiefs of Staff; senior civil servants, including Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; "C" [Major General Sir Stewart Menzies, Head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service].Subjects covered by the minutes...
Dates:
01 Jul 1943 - 31 Jul 1943
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), Jan 1940
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 19/6/1
Scope and Contents
First Lord of the Admiralty's printed minutes, January 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (sometimes annotated with additional printed information) to: the Sea Lords, particularly 1st [Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound], 2nd [Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel, Admiral Sir Charles Little], and [3rd Sea Lord and] Controller [Rear-Admiral Bruce Fraser]; Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [Rear-Admiral Tom Phillips]; [Permanent] Secretary [Sir Archibald Carter]; various naval...
Dates:
Jan 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 20 Oct 1941
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/20/43-57
Scope and Contents
Letter from WSC to President [Franklin Roosevelt] outlining various plans and proposals concerning: attacking the German and Italian armies in Libya; French North Africa; Norway; British contributions to the Soviet war effort; defending Great Britain from a possible German invasion; placing United States forces in Northern Ireland [Ulster]; the command structure in the Middle East and the roles of the Air Force and Navy; the effect of victory in Libya on Italy and Turkey; landing tanks; the...
Dates:
20 Oct 1941
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open
Unknown
"War cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: Weekly Resume (no.40) of the Naval, Military and Air Situation", 30 May- 6 Jun 1940
Unknown
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 23/5/1-14
Scope and Contents
Detailed summary of the war situation including: the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk including the effect of weather conditions, numbers evacuated, naval losses and attacks by German bombers; attacks by U-boats on seaborne trade; anti-submarine operations; German trade; overview of the military and air situation covering Norway, Italy, the North Sea and coastal operations, the bombing of Great Britain, attacks on Germany by Bomber Command, French and German air...
Dates:
30 May- 6 Jun 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open